No batteries for Rocker

Posted: Saturday, July 01, 2000

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Mets' die-hards didn't turn out for John Rocker Battery Night.

For months, fliers had been distributed outside Shea Stadium, calling for fans to gather behind the right-field fence before Friday night's game, where they would be given batteries to throw at the controversial reliever, their No. 1 villain.

But there was no gathering out by the entrance to the No. 7 train, which Rocker did not take for the second straight day, instead preferring a police-escorted black van. The only evidence of any protest was a 40ish man selling T-shirts that read "Battery Day Shea 2000/John Rocker .../Beat the Braves."

The heavy police presence - 700 officers - was evident for the second straight night. At the Thursday's opener of the four-game series, there were no incidents, although police arrested two people - one for disorderly conduct, another for entering a "players only" zone - and issued 63 summonses for open containers of beer, police spokesman Sgt. Victor Ramos said.

Fans did get to boo Thursday as Rocker ran to the mound and pitched a perfect eighth inning in Atlanta's 6-4 win.

In contrast to Thursday, there was much less fan and media interest during batting practice Friday night, which was a sellout, partly because postgame fireworks were on the schedule.

Rocker, whose xenophobic comments to a reporter in December caused baseball to suspend him for the first two months of the season, arrived at Shea Stadium about 2 1/2 hours before game time but wouldn't talk with reporters.

"Nah, I've got stuff to do," he said when asked if he would discuss Thursday's game.

Standing out shagging flies in left field, he signed a few autographs for fans in the bleachers, then ran for warmups.

He went into the left-field corner and four policemen coordinated as fans in the loge and mezzanine tossed balls and gloves down onto the field for the reliever to sign. Rocker signed about 50 autographs for 10-15 minutes. At first, he threw the balls and gloves back to the fans. Later, he handed the objects to police, who tossed them back.

"Everyone hates you, but they want you to sign something. They're all a bunch of sellouts," 22-year-old Joe Giammarino said just before throwing a T-shirt to the field to get autographed.

The biggest pregame boos went to former-Met Bobby Bonilla, who started at third base for the first time this year. Chipper Jones, Atlanta's regular third baseman, returned home when doctors decided to induce labor in his wife, Sharon.